History Main / SpotTheImposter

* In the David trilogy of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' David morphs Jake's cousin, who is badly injured after being hit by a car and expected to die in surgery, and takes his place. Jake figures it out almost instantly, when "Saddler's" injuries are miraculously healed. Everyone else not in on the {{masquerade}} fails miserably.

to:

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':** In the David trilogy of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' trilogy, David morphs Jake's cousin, who is badly injured after being hit by a car and expected to die in surgery, and takes his place. Jake figures it out almost instantly, when "Saddler's" injuries are miraculously healed. Everyone else not in on the {{masquerade}} fails miserably.

Added DiffLines:

** A one-man variation in #6 when Jake gets infested by a Yeerk. The Yeerk is unable to contain its hatred of Andalites, and blows its cover for good when it protests being tied up for three days (the maximum duration Yeerks can survive without soaking up Kandrona rays), which the real Jake would instantly have agreed to.

* ''Film/InvasionUSA1952''. A Russkie disguised as an American soldier doesn't know who the Chicago Cubs are ("A cub is a small bear, no?"). {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S06E02InvasionUSA Tom Servo]].

to:

* ''Film/InvasionUSA1952''. A Russkie disguised as an American soldier doesn't know who the Chicago Cubs are ("A ("Cubs? A cub is a small bear, no?").animal, a bear..."). {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S06E02InvasionUSA Tom Servo]].

* ''Film/IceColdInAlex''. The protagonists begin to suspect that the South African officer who hitched a lift with them may be a German spy because he doesn't know how to brew up a SpotOfTea in the preferred method used by South African soldiers.

* At one point in Part 4 of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'', Okuyasu has to figure out between two people dressed as Speedwagon Foundation members which is an assassin trying to kill Joseph, who's in the same room, with his stand (while the two look nothing alike, Okuyasu had never seen the assassin before and only heard him talk through his stand, and thus doesn't know what he looks or sounds like.) When the assassin discreetly preps his stand to attack, Okuyasu quickly punches him out, and when asked how he knew, proclaims that [[DumbMuscle he's not that smart and was just going to punch out the other guy too.]]

to:

* At one point in [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Part 4 4]] of ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'', ''Franchise/JojosBizarreAdventure'', Okuyasu has to figure out between two people dressed as Speedwagon Foundation members which is an assassin trying to kill Joseph, who's in the same room, with his stand (while the two look nothing alike, Okuyasu had never seen the assassin before and only heard him talk through his stand, and thus doesn't know what he looks or sounds like.) When the assassin discreetly preps his stand to attack, Okuyasu quickly punches him out, and when asked how he knew, proclaims that [[DumbMuscle he's not that smart and was just going to punch out the other guy too.]]

* In ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'', the heroes get confronted by several magical duplicates of Hawk and Elizabeth. Meliodas simply smacks all of the Hawks at SuperSpeed. The real Hawk gets injured (and calls Meliodas out on it), but the fakes disappear. Meliodas then challenges all the Elizabeths to jump as high as they can. The fakes agree and do it, but the real one refuses because she is wearing a skirt and Meliodas [[PantyThief stole her panties earlier]].

* In the story [[Literature/ThePlaneteers "The Brain Stealers of Mars"]], the ''thushol'' are Martian {{shapeshifting}} parasites who impersonate the heroes. They're also mind-readers, so that a duplicate has all the knowledge of the original, and the heroes can't find out who is the real one by questioning each other.

to:

* In the story [[Literature/ThePlaneteers "The Brain Stealers of Mars"]], "Literature/TheBrainStealersOfMars", the ''thushol'' are Martian {{shapeshifting}} parasites who impersonate the heroes. They're also mind-readers, so that a duplicate has all the knowledge of the original, and the heroes can't find out who is the real one by questioning each other.

* ''Comicbook/LaffALympics'': During a relay race in "The Meet at Mount Ono", the Great Fondoo creates duplicates of Huckeberry Hound so Quick Draw [=McGraw=] won't know who to pass his team's rod to. Quick Draw eventually figures out who the real Huck is by having them sing "Oh My Darling, Clementine". The real one is more off-key than the imposters.

* In ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', Professor Arturo meets his alternate-universe-evil-self, and with the gang about to depart forever to the next Alternate Earth, the two engage in fisticuffs and one Arturo dives through the extra-dimensional portal, which then closes, stranding the other. We're never, ever told if the team got the real Arturo or the alternate one, but he dies anyway so it probably didn't matter.

to:

* In ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', Professor Arturo meets his alternate-universe-evil-self, and with the gang about to depart forever to the next Alternate Earth, the two engage in fisticuffs and one Arturo dives through the extra-dimensional portal, which then closes, stranding the other. [[AmbiguousCloneEnding We're never, ever told if the team got the real Arturo or the alternate one, one]], but he dies anyway so it probably didn't matter.

* The ''Literature/AlexRider'' book ''Point Blanc'' ends with a genuinely disturbing sequence in which Alex and his {{Doppelganger}} go ''mano a mano''. The prose deliberately acts like a distant camera, leaving the reader to play Spot The Doppleganger and find it impossible, even when one dies. In the next book, everything's all fine and dandy with Alex being the survivor, but...

to:

* The ''Literature/AlexRider'' book ''Point Blanc'' ends with a genuinely disturbing sequence in which Alex and his {{Doppelganger}} [[CloningBlues a clone of the BigBad surgically altered to look exactly like Alex]] go ''mano a mano''. The prose deliberately acts like a distant camera, leaving the reader to play Spot The Doppleganger Doppelgänger and find it impossible, even when one dies. falls into an inferno. In the next book, everything's all fine and dandy with Alex being the survivor, but...but...** Pops up again in ''Scorpia Rising'': [[spoiler:the clone (who survived the fall) and Alex]] are pointing guns at each other, and a CIA agent who comes on scene has to determine which of them [[spoiler:just tried to assassinate the American secretary of state]]. He makes a correct deduction ([[spoiler:Alex had a pistol, but the clone had a rifle, a sniper's weapon]]) but is shot before he can fire his own gun.

* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'': The episode "Too Many Roscoes." Not a comic episode where Rosco is somehow duplicated in some weird contraption and then wreaks havoc on Hazzard County. A double DOES wreak havoc, however ... via plastic surgery and a sinister plan (along with his cronies) to rob Hazzard Bank. The set-up: The real Rosco's patrol car is run into the lake, and the sheriff is promptly kidnapped by the bad guys, which includes Woody (James Best in a dual role), the bank robber who had plastic surgery specifically to prepare for this heist. Rosco -- thought to be dead, then discovered alive and stumbling down the street -- fools everyone in Hazzard (especially Boss Hogg and the Duke boys) by bungling simple facts, but the tip-off that "Rosco" wasn't who he said he was (remembering in exact detail the schedule arrival of an armored car and a $1 million shipment) goes unnoticed. Eventually, Woody exposes himself to the Duke boys and takes them to the same place where the real Rosco is being held captive. The Dukes and Rosco escape and team up to capture the bank robbers ... with the real Rosco punching out the phony.

to:

* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'': The episode "Too Many Roscoes." Not a comic episode where Rosco is somehow duplicated in some weird contraption and then wreaks havoc on Hazzard County. A double DOES wreak havoc, however ... via plastic surgery and a sinister plan (along with his cronies) to rob Hazzard Bank. The set-up: The real Rosco's patrol car is run into the lake, and the sheriff is promptly kidnapped by the bad guys, which includes Woody (James Best in a dual role), the bank robber who had plastic surgery specifically to prepare for this heist. Rosco -- thought to be dead, then discovered alive and stumbling down the street -- fools everyone in Hazzard (especially Boss Hogg and the Duke boys) by bungling simple facts, but the tip-off that "Rosco" wasn't who he said he was (remembering in exact detail the schedule arrival of an armored car and a $1 million shipment) goes unnoticed. Eventually, Woody exposes himself to the Duke boys and takes them to the same place where the real Rosco is being held captive. The But it is Rosco who deals the death blow to the caper. After the Dukes and knock the robbers' car into a lake, he instructs the boys to keep an eye on them while he moves toward the shoreline to await his impersonator. Once Woody is ashore, Rosco escape confiscates the loot bag and team up to capture the bank robbers ... flattens him with the real Rosco punching out the phony.one good punch.

Community

Tropes HQ

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy